


Monster (Rewrite)

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 13:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19442659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Daine finally reveals his true self to the man who means everything even though he shouldn't. Daine belongs to HellishSam.





	Monster (Rewrite)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HellishSam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellishSam/gifts).



The race had ended an hour ago, and Daine still swore that he could see those monsters that Katja had summoned. They weren't real, the Soul Riders had assured him, merely figments of dreams brought to life by Katja with her nightmare powers. But it had certainly been real enough for Daine. Real enough to leave physical marks on him. Above the fear, Daine's body ached. But, before he could ask her for help, Louisa had vanished, and he'd vaguely been aware of the fact that Lisa hadn't gone after her. Bitch.

"Daine? Are you okay?" Willow's voice seemed to come out of nowhere, and Daine startled, his heart racing and finally filling his body with that much-needed adrenaline to get moving. Daine looked at her, the girl who felt like a sister to him, and ignored the disappointment rising in him. She wouldn't like where he was going.

"I'll just go to the druid hospital," said Daine, the lie coming easily to his lips. The only person who'd ever healed him, the only person he let heal him, was the man whose wagon Daine currently turned Cloud in the direction of. "I'll be fine." He flashed her a smile that he didn't feel. He needed to forget, needed to have the best kind of distraction until the fear melted away and he could think straight again. Not that thinking straight had ever been his strong suit.

"Cloud, just- find something to do for the next hour or so," said Daine as he dismounted his horse and left him outside the wagon where Zee was currently grazing. The black mare lifted her head, whickering at Cloud. The gelding trotted over to her, giving a swish of his tail. Already, Daine could feel his fear melting away- both his own and Cloud's. Though, while Cloud's fear was replaced by the playful attitude of foals, Daine's fear was replaced by something far more carnal. He knocked on the wagon door, not wanting to stumble in on Ydris with someone else. Please, please say that he was alone...

"Daine?" Ydris asked when he opened the door.

"Please tell me you're alone," said Daine, and Ydris must have seen something in his eyes judging by the colour rising to his cheeks.

"Yes, but-" Ydris started, but Daine cut off his protests with a searing kiss. Ydris gave a hum of pleasure and stumbled back a step, which Daine used to his advantage.

"Shut up, just make me feel good, make me forget everything," said Daine, tears in his eyes.

"Daine, what-" Ydris tried again, but Daine kissed him harder, swallowing any of Ydris' protests. Ydris gave what sounded like a growl and pulled Daine to him, his hands already seeking out clothing to remove and smoothing over scarred, sculpted skin.

Much as Ydris was enjoying this, he still had so many questions. Daine had an almost... haunted expression in his eyes (or he had before Ydris had let him into his wagon), one that was a lot like Daine's expression had been back when they'd... well, done this for the first time. But Daine certainly wasn't scared of this because it never happened any other time. Maybe it was something else, though Ydris knew that Daine would never tell him. Their arrangement didn't include any pillow talk, not that it stopped them from talking at other times.

Perhaps Daine was kissing him like this to stall any talk, though, he certainly had Ydris' tongue. Giving a mental shrug, Ydris decided to give himself over to pleasure and melted into Daine's embrace, kissing him with that same intensity and arching his body into Daine's.

Daine's wince effectively doused them with cold water, though. Ydris pulled away, eyes wide with concern. His lips were still kiss-swollen, his face was still flushed, his hair was a mess and top hat on the floor, his purple coat was half-off (and corset unlaced enough to be off, leaving him in his lavender shirt), but any passion had vanished now.

"No, ignore that," said Daine, that panicked look in his eyes again. Eyes that were now glowing. And those teeth that had been biting at Ydris' lip and tongue had been a little too sharp. "Just leave it alone, I'm fine."

"You are most certainly not fine, Daniel," said Ydris, giving him a stern frown. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," said Daine through grit teeth, grabbing Ydris' shirt and pulling their bodies back together. "Kiss me again." But this time, Ydris pulled away, pushing Daine away with his hands on Daine's shoulders.

"Alright, we can go to the bedroom," said Ydris, trying for a flirtatious tone. Thankfully, Daine latched onto it, eagerly following Ydris into the bedroom. That cocky smirk that Ydris so loved returned when Ydris closed the door behind them, and it definitely wasn't an act when Ydris kissed his lips. He really didn't know why he cared so much about this curious oddity of a human, but he wasn't about to question it. Ydris' fingers grazed the strip of bare skin above the waistband of Daine's jeans, making Daine moan low in his throat and rock his hips towards Ydris'. And, with a soft chuckle, Ydris gripped the hem of Daine's shirt and pulled it up over his head. But he couldn't stop an "oh" from escaping his lips when he beheld Daine's wound.

"Shit," said Daine, pulling away from Ydris as quickly as possible. He had to move quickly, before Ydris saw the blue blood, before Ydris could ask questions, before Ydris could-

"Daine!" Ydris called after him as Daine ran from the room. But thankfully, he heard Daine go into the bathroom. At least his phoenix hadn't slipped out of his fingers.

Daine's breath came in short, sharp gasps as he stood in the bathroom. He couldn't stop looking at his reflection in the mirror above the vanity, his hands white-knuckled on the basin. He didn't know if he was going to throw up or what, but his heart was pounding. It was too much, it hurt too much, and now Ydris had seen and and and...

A knock at the door reached Daine's ears, which had changed shape and colour to become pointed and purple in his panic. Along with patches of purple scales appearing on his skin. It itched like hell when they came through, and- Daine suddenly screamed as his horns erupted, tearing through bone and hair and making his head throb. The horns were the worst of all, the one thing that made Daine truly feel like a monster. A demon. Daine stared at his reflection, tears running freely down his face now and glimmering in the golden glow cast by his eyes. But Daine couldn't let himself get caught up in self-loathing again, he had to act quickly. Had to clean up the telling blue blood on his chest, which he did frantically, grabbing wads of toilet paper and trying to use it to mop up the blood. It looked like a pen had exploded, but Daine knew better.

The mess gone, Daine opened the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and searched frantically for something to use to close his wound. His shaking hands spilled bottles and boxes everywhere, and Daine had to wonder for a moment why Ydris even needed half this stuff. It couldn't be for him, their arrangement wasn't like that. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Daine at last found a box of strips that he could use as a kind of bandaid. This particular boo-boo was a bit too big for a regular bandaid. If he could just close up this wound, maybe he'd be able to calm down enough to make his body go back to normal.

"Come on come on come on..." Daine muttered, his hands still shaking as he tried to stick as many strips as he could to his chest. Most of them fell off, though. "No, no, no..."

"Daine, please come out," said Ydris, leaning against the door. The cry of pain had been worrying enough, but then there had been silence but for the rustling and now this worrying muttering... "Please. I... I've already seen it all."

Ydris' words made Daine freeze, which probably wasn't the expected or desired effect. He could barely even breathe, it felt like his heart was lodged in his throat. In his fear, more scales appeared, and Daine's horns grew in more. His eyes were glowing purple as well now, too. Fuck. Ydris had seen, hadn't he? Daine had been here often enough, and Ydris had healed him that first time when he'd been...

The bathroom door finally opened, and Ydris couldn't suppress the gasp when he saw Daine mid-transformation like this. With a scowl, Daine started to close the door but Ydris jammed his foot in it, trying to ignore the pain of the door trying to slam shut on his foot.

"Daine, please, you're being ridiculous," said Ydris. It had the desired effect, at least- Daine yanked the door open so that he could glare fully at Ydris.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Daine, sarcasm dripping from his words. "I'm just some kind of freak, I'm bleeding blue blood which isn't normal, I've got horns growing from my head and patches of scales and my teeth are sharp and my eyes are glowing and my ears aren't fucking normal but no, I'm being ridiculous!" He yelled the last few words so that Ydris flinched back, away from the sharp teeth.

"Come to my bedroom," said Ydris, trying to keep his voice gentle despite his pounding heart. Daine snorted.

"I'm kind of not in the mood anymore, sorry," said Daine.

"Oh, for- the study, then," said Ydris. "Please, just let me heal you."

"Why? So you can look at me like I'm, what, some poor little broken bird? Poor little Daine, crying himself to sleep again, crying in front of you again, what, do you get off on that or something?" Daine asked, shaking now. And he was crying, and he hated it. Hated the traitorous tears rolling down his cheeks, hated the emotions welling up in his throat and trying to choke off words. And why did this even matter so much? Why did it matter so much that Ydris see him as an equal? Yeah, at least Ydris wasn't calling him a freak or being too interested in Daine's weird form, but he shouldn't be being this gentle about it, shouldn't be so nice about it. Daine didn't deserve that.

"No," said Ydris, looking steadily at Daine. Dimly, Daine registered the feeling of the world moving around him, depositing them easily in Ydris' study room.

"Don't you dare look at me with pity," said Daine. "I hate it."

"Why?" Ydris asked. "You are hurt, you are scared, you deserve pity." He sounded so genuine that Daine couldn't snap at him again. Instead, he swallowed his ire and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"I was expecting a different reaction," said Daine. "Go on, say it- I'm a freak, I'm a monster, just look at my fucking teeth." He bared said teeth at Ydris, though his eyes showed no anger. At least, not the kind of anger that should be there. Instead, he just looked scared. Ydris had been lost in those eyes before, but he didn't dare let himself get lost now, no matter how enticing the golden glow was.

"Come here," said Ydris, holding his hands out. Daine backed away, but Ydris caught hold of Daine's face. His fingers touched the skin gently, but Daine felt frozen. He hadn't expected such a gentle touch.

"What are you doing?" Daine whispered, a tear sliding down his cheek.

"Looking at you," Ydris murmured. He was silent for so long that Daine felt uncomfortable. He wanted to run, wanted to hide, wanted to not be here, facing this undeserved tenderness. This wasn't part of their arrangement.

"What?" Daine asked, trying to pull away again. Ydris dug his fingers in slightly, but loosened his grip when Daine stayed still.

"How," Ydris began, "can something- no, someone- so beautiful, so magnificent, expect anything less than complete and utter adoration? You're magnificent, my phoenix, not a monster." Daine felt like the world had just been pulled out from under his feet.

"What?" Daine asked again, his voice softer now, more vulnerable. He'd never had someone speak so nicely to him before, other than Cole. He'd never expected to hear it again.

"Do you have any idea what you are, Daine?" Ydris asked, getting a little closer to him now.

"N-no," said Daine, hating the stammer in his voice.

"You're Pandorian," said Ydris. "At least a little bit. Possibly half."

"And how do you know that?" Daine asked, unwilling to believe him. Ydris closed his eyes, grimacing slightly. And, before Daine could ask any questions, Ydris changed before his eyes. Black scales, almost holding a rainbow sheen, covered Ydris' body, along with a pair of pearlescent twisting horns sprouting from his head. His ears changed, too, resembling Daine's own. And when he opened his eyes, they glowed, the pupil slit like a cat's and the brown eye holding more of a purple tinge than usual.

"Because I am too," said Ydris. And the walls that Daine had so carefully constructed around his heart began to crumble. He stepped closer to Ydris until he stood within the showman's embrace, warm within those arms. A weight that had been on his chest for months, years even, suddenly lifted as Ydris wound his arms tighter around Daine.

"Can you tell me about it?" Daine asked. "About what I am, what we are?" Though he was scared, he needed to know.

"Of course," said Ydris. "I will tell you everything you need to know, Daine."

"Thank you," Daine whispered, closing his eyes as he rested his head against Ydris' chest. This was probably the biggest mistake that he'd ever made, trusting Ydris with everything that he was. But Daine had always been good at making bad decisions.


End file.
